FSU president: Hazing death spurs reforms
TALLAHASSEE — After the hazing death of a student in November, Florida State President John Thrasher says he and his staff are working on major changes to prevent future tragedies.
Andrew Coffey, 20, died of alcohol poisoning during an off-campus fraternity initiation Nov. 3. Nine members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity have been charged with hazing that resulted in a death or injury.
Thrasher suspended all fraternities and sororities on the FSU campus after the junior from Lighthouse Point in South Florida died.
“I pray that his parents can find some comfort in knowing that we are working hard on this and that his death can perhaps serve as a catalyst to change our campus and we believe hopefully elsewhere,” he said.
He spoke Wednesday to the Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s 12 universities.
Thrasher said the FSU effort is being led by Amy Hecht, the school’s vice president for student affairs. He said the school also was working with other Florida universities, as well as national groups and organizations. He said the final recommendations are not ready yet but he outlined three “broad” areas where he expects to see changes.
One area is “risk reduction,” which Thrasher said is focused on the initiation process for fraternities. Key issues, he said, are hazing rituals and alcohol.
Another area of emphasis will be increased staffing to better connect the university administration with the various organizations on campus.
The third area will be the development of training and education programs that will come from reviewing not only Coffey’s death but other activities that could put the health and safety of students at risk, Thrasher said.
He also emphasized that FSU students, student leaders and their organizations are playing a major role in the policy changes.
“That was the premise when I started this,” Thrasher said. “It wasn’t all going to come from us. It was going to come from the folks that are affected by this. And they have been very cooperative.”
He said the goal is “to be vigilant,” knowing it will take time to develop the new guidelines. He said FSU will put a “metric” system in place to measure the progress.
“I think I’m fairly safe in saying that we are bringing and will bring about some cultural change on the campus,” Thrasher said. “I’m pleased that our students also seem to be understanding this need for change.”
Other groups are working on the issue too, with Kishane Patel, the student representative on the Board of Governors, saying he participated in a forum this week led by the Council for Student Affairs and the Florida Student Association that included student leaders and organizations from around the state.
Patel, a senior at the University of West Florida, said one idea discussed was some type of “medical amnesty” that would encourage students to immediately call police or seek medical help if an incident occurred.
“Don’t let the fear of your chapter getting in trouble or you getting personally in trouble prevent you from calling for help,” he said. “The common sense thing to do is call the police. Call an ambulance.”
Patel, a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, also said the fraternities provide many positive influences on the campuses.
“Hypothetically let’s just say we remove Greek life,” Patel said. “These students would still likely engage in these activities but there will be no sense of accountability or structure as a community.”